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Sunday, February 23, 2014

Toy Story 3: Art of Book

Here is yet another fun and insightful "Art of" book by Charles Solomon and Chronicle Publishing...The Art of Toy Story 3!

The documentary "Inside Pixar" calls Toy Story's 3 Pixar's "Crown Jewel" and is considered, by many, to be Pixar's greatest film. Almost 4 years later and it still remains number one on the list of highest grossing animated films (with a gross of $1,063,171,911).

This book is 175 pages filled with the story behind Toy Story 3 and includes countless pieces of concept art, storyboards, maquettes and much more. It begins with a great preface by John Lasseter, continues with a foreword by director Lee Unkrich and producer Darla K. Anderson and then goes into the introduction which goes through a brief history of the Toy Story legacy. From there, you get right into the bulk of all the art included in this book.

It really was an amazing story of how Toy Story 3 finally got to the screen. Pixar had wanted to make Toy Story a trilogyever since the success of Toy Story 2 in 1999 but it was not as simple as just doing it. There were many complications with the deal they had with Disney at the time and their contract with them was coming to an end. It wasn't until Disney bought Pixar in 2006 that it was possible to make the film after many years of waiting...and of course, they needed to have just the right story to do the franchise justice.

In fact, Toy Story 3 was almost an entirely different story and was to be made without Pixar by a short lived division of Disney Animation Studios called "Circle 7." The main purpose of this division was to make sequels to the Pixar films up to end of Pixar and Disney's agreement in 2006 (Pixar's first 7 films). Toy Story 3, Monsters Inc. 2 and Finding Nemo 2 were all in the works, but the division was shut down before the work on any of them was completed. I'm so glad that Toy Story 3 or any of the Pixar sequels were not made without Pixar itself. I wonder what they would have been like? If you do some digging online, you can actually find some really interesting official info on what the stories of those unmade sequels would have been (and there's even some concept art out there for them).

Anyway, I'm glad it all worked out with Pixar and Disney sticking with their partnership and that Toy Story 3 was made. In 2010, more than a decade after Toy Story 2 was released, fans were finally able to see the much loved characters of Woody, Buzz and the rest of the gang on the big screen again. You want to know all of the details on how exactly that happened? You'll have to pick up a copy of this book, you won't regret it!

Below are a few page examples:

If you're a fan of Toy Story, Pixar, art, or all of the above, then this is the book for you! You can pick it up on Amazon or on eBay below: